Write for ArtBooksReviews.com!
We need people to review energetic and interesting art books & videos. You can review one book, a few books, or maintain an entire section of reviews at this website. It's up to you.
Standards:
- Know your topic or be genuinely interested in learning more about it.
- Reviews should be 250 - 500 words long. The three most important points should be bulleted at the top of the page. (See this sample.)
- If you include an audio review, it must not slow down the page. (The audio software that Aisling uses costs $5 and it's really easy to use. Ask her for a copy.)
- Be clear about your level of expertise. If you're a beginner, say so.
- If you're reviewing a friend's book and you may have any bias, make that clear in the review.
- No plagiarism. Limit quotes to two sentences (total) from the book, unless you have permission. You are wholly responsible for your own reviews.
- No typos or spelling errors. Use a spell-checker and check your grammar, as well.
- Every review should include at least two very positive points, and one negative, even if it's minor. Balanced reviews are the key to readers' trust.
- If you can't say something nice... don't trash any book or author. Surely, there is something worthwhile in every book. It's important to be honest, but it's also important to think about who would enjoy the book, and say so. If you really can't find anything redeeming about a book, ask us to find someone else to review it.
- The only ads on the page should be for the specific book that you reviewed. One review per webpage. No other offsite links.
- Please don't link to a competitive website or group anywhere on this website.
- Once you have FTP access to the website, please do not change anyone else's webpages. No exceptions.
What you get:
- Your own webpage at ArtBooksReviews.com for your brief bio, a link to your own art-related website, and a list of the books you've reviewed.
- Your own email address @ArtBooksReviews.com.
- On your webpages, the book ads (for Amazon or B&N, for example) will be yours and earn you money directly. If you're not an Amazon affiliate yet, sign up at Amazon.com.
- Once you have at least three reviews approved, you can directly upload unlimited reviews in your category via your own FTP login. You can have your own blog at the site (linked from the index.html) once you have ten reviews at the website.
- You'll be invited to participate in the discussion at our private Yahoo group, so that you can exchange ideas and tips on good reviews, see if anyone else is reviewing a certain book, and so on.
- You can write as many or as few reviews as you like. If you get tired of writing reviews or don't have time to participate, your reviews will usually remain online--continuing to earn you money--even after you stop writing for us.
- You can write short (up to 500 words long) articles on related topics, to attract more readers to your reviews.
- Many publishers will send you free "review copies" of books that you request, if they think that the review will help them to sell books. (Please don't accept free books that you aren't able to review. If you receive too many books, let us know about it so that we can find someone to help you with reviews.)
- You keep the copyrights to your work. You are free to publish the same reviews on up to two other websites.
What we get:
- Every webpage may have one, four-item line of text links provided by Google AdSense. (We'll test this for a month and see if it's worthwhile.) Aisling will get the income from those ads, to cover website hosting and related expenses.
- Aisling has editorial control of the website. If someone violates the Standards listed above, she will warn the reviewer or--in the case of a dispute--warn each person. If an agreement can't be reached, Aisling makes the final decision.
FAQs
- How much do you pay?
We don't pay our reviewers. Our writers contribute reviews for fun, and to share their opinions about (and enthusiasm for) some of the very best books. Writers may receive free review copies of books, directly from the publishers. Our writers earn money from book sales via affiliate ads at Amazon.com, etc.
How much you earn is based on how many reviews you write, and whether your readers click through to buy the book. - I don't know anything about FTP or HTML. Can I still write reviews for you?
No. We aren't able to teach you HTML or correct HTML errors. This is a template-based website and we've eliminated a lot of HTML with CSS, but you must be comfortable reading and writing basic HTML.
We're looking for people who can write their own reviews and upload them to the server via FTP. If you want to learn HTML, we recommend the free programs, Nvu and 1st Page. These will help you create webpages, understand how HTML code works, and what CSS does. We also recommend any of the "dummies" books about HTML.
Once you're comfortable with HTML, ask and we'll send you a template to experiment with. We'll give you temporary FTP access, and a beta file to upload to. Once you have three, error-free review pages that are ready for the public to see, let us know the URLs. We'll provide FTP info so that you can officially join our expert reviewers. - I'm interested in writing reviews in a sub-category... like books about ATCs, in the Paper & Mixed Media section.
Can I do just that?
Yes! You don't have to accept an entire category to write reviews. We encourage you to specialize, for greater credibility with your readers. You can expand into other topics later, if you like. - Can I write reviews of books that aren't in my category?
Yes. They'll be linked from your personal list of reviews. We'll add them to the category index as time permits. - Can I review a book that someone else has already reviewed?
Yes. If it's not in "your" category, you can ask that reviewer to link to your review from theirs. (That's up to the
How to apply
- Use the comment form at our contact page.
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